


The Gambit

by Sophisticated_Adult



Series: Endgame [1]
Category: Transformers Generation One
Genre: Gen, M/M, Solve Your Problems With Card Games
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-09-16
Updated: 2014-09-16
Packaged: 2018-02-17 16:04:42
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,177
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2315369
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Sophisticated_Adult/pseuds/Sophisticated_Adult
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Rodimus makes a move.</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Gambit

Four warriors sized each other up, all fearsome in their own right. The deadshot sniper. The reckless twins feared by aerial and grounder alike for their destructive capabilities. The Prime himself.

“I’ll spend a token to buy the Queen of Hearts.” Bluestreak, it turned out, had a remarkable poker face. Or…a whatever this was face. Sideswipe hadn’t given his game a name yet. When you threw together every card game you could think of plus a healthy chunk of board games, you needed to do a lot of playtesting.

Bluestreak tossed the wooden token – custom-made, Primus knew where Sideswipe got those from – into the centre of the table and pulled the discard pile towards him, rooting through it until he found the desired card, showed it to them all and then neatly arranged it in his hand. “And two more tokens to build a wall.” The tokens, quite possibly the first of their kind to ever be used on the planet, were shaped like Cybertronian-sized coins and doubled as both currency and building materials, demonstrated by Bluestreak clicking his tokens next to each other in front of his playing area. “That’s it. Your turn, Sides.”

“Hmmm.” Sideswipe drew his card and glanced at it, then flicked his optics to each of his opponents. Bluestreak looked content, no doubt setting up for some big play in a later turn. Sunstreaker hunched over his cards and glared when Sideswipe caught his optics. And as for Rodimus…

“You okay there, Prime?”

“Huh? Oh yeah, sorry.” Rodimus smiled sheepishly. “Sorry. I’m a little distracted. Whose turn is it?”

“Mine, actually,” Sideswipe replied. “One face-down.” He picked a card from his hand and placed it in front of him. “Magnus giving you grief?”

“Galvatron, actually. He rants when he’s upset. No, it’s nothing serious!” He hastened to add when Bluestreak’s optics went bright with concern and even Sunstreaker straightened up. “I think a Decepticon ticked him off, but not seriously enough to get killed, so…”

“So he’s yelling at _you_?” Sunstreaker scowled. “You need to tell him to get lost, Prime, you’re not even on duty right now.” Rodimus just smiled back. In his experience, ‘Off-Duty’ was something that happened to people who weren’t Primes.

“Do I hear correctly? How _pathetic_.” The so-far silent and invisible presence that had been hanging somewhere above Rodimus’ left shoulder (one more distraction – apparently the Matrix also granted its bearer ghost-sensing powers) chose to make itself known.

“Do you know who _didn’t_ go running off to Prime the moment some insignificant speck chose not to obey his every command?” Starscream, cross-legged and grinning, materialised several feet above the table.

“Like yourself, you mean?” Sideswipe deliberately ignored the ghostly Seeker in favour of passing an action to grab another token from the bank. “Frag off, Screamer. Your turn, Prime.”

“Okay, sure.”

_:Little ingrate…the fool doesn’t even know who he’s dealing with!::_

Having gotten the main gist of it, Rodimus only half-listened to the rant currently going on inside his audials. If there was any mech in the universe who always knew exactly who he was dealing with, it was probably Swindle, subject of said rant, but mentioning that to a very annoyed Galvatron would not be the best idea right now. Interrupting him mid-flow was never a good plan.

He drew a card instead. His hand was quite full; he’d played fairly passively the whole game because complicated or aggressive playstyles always left him with no resources and a wide open board while his units were off conquering planets. Now he had a nicely flourishing civilisation that, in all honesty, didn’t seem to need much input from him. Trade agreements kept the twins away, and so far Bluestreak was playing a defensive game. Rodimus did wonder if they weren’t attacking him because of his status as Prime, but he hoped not and preferred not to think about it like that.

He stared down at the drawn card for a long time, to the point where even Starscream quieted his own ranting and flipped upside-down to peer curiously at it. Rodimus wondered how loudly he and Galvatron would protest if he pointed out their similarities.

“Death,” he said, placing the card on the table. “Which means change.”

“Yup. Event or summon?”

“Both.”

Sideswipe whistled. “Expensive play.” Sunstreaker, sat opposite the Prime and embattled from constant attacks on his brother, watched suspiciously over his hand. Rodimus beamed innocently at him and pushed forward the stash of tokens he’d been collecting all game – no longer to build the Temple of Primus, which he’d originally intended them for, but Rodimus was sure He would understand.

“I summon,” he said, with a bit more dramatic flair than was really necessary, “the Herald of Unicron.” He placed the requisite token on the grinning skull. Sunstreaker had few things go right for him in the game; one of these was the World card he’d summoned as the Prime to lead his bedraggled forces. “And he wants to make an offer.” He took five cards from his hand and placed them in the discard pile.

_:Are you even listening to me, Prime?:_

_:Yes, of course,:_ Rodimus soothed even as he felt the gazes of three Autobots and one (ex?) Decepticon watching him very carefully. Maybe it was a little too obvious? It was such a good idea in his head about two kliks ago. _:I’m sure Swindle is very sorry.:_

_:He will be.:_

“Anyway.” Rodimus coughed. “He extends the hand of – of union to the Prime. To bind their people as one.”

There was silence, save a very unimpressed “you have _got_ to be kidding me,” from somewhere near the ceiling. The light in Sunstreaker’s optics narrowed to slits as he tried to work out all the downsides he’d face if he accepted.

“That’s an, um, interesting move,” Bluestreak ventured.

“Game-breaking, I’d say.” Sideswipe glanced at his brother. “Sunny?”

“I’m thinking.” From his side of the table it looked like an obvious choice, but these things weren’t always as clear-cut as they seemed. “You sure you know what you’re doing, Prime?”

“Where’s the fun in that?” Rodimus replied, assuring Galvatron at the same time that yes, he knew when they were next scheduled to meet and yes, he was still thinking it over. “That’s my offer. Take it or leave it, Sunstreaker.”

“You’re all _idiots_. Has anyone ever told you that? Don’t come crying to _me_ when he’s murdered in his sleep.” With that final declaration, Starscream shot through the ceiling to find someone else to annoy, although he’d have a harder time since he needed to be near the Matrix in order to be visible and audible. Still, life – or unlife, or whatever Starscream counted as – finds a way.

“He’s got a point.”

“I’m aware,” said Rodimus quietly. “But a lot of good things could come from it, too.”

“If you say so.” Bluestreak sounded doubtful. Sunstreaker’s optics brightened, flickered back to full size and blinked once.

“You got a deal, Prime.”

Later on, Sideswipe had a lot of adjustments to make.


End file.
